The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1887-10-27

there was no room Tor the liquid, and by that
time 4 was said the inebriats would DO cured
whether any one was ever cured in that way
l know not, but by long experiment it Is
found that the only way IS to stop short or,
AMI when man does that he needs God to
help him. And there have been more cases
than you can count when God has so helped
the man that he quit forever, and l could
count a score OF them here to day, some Of
them pillars in the house of God.
One would suppose that men would take
warning from some Of the ominous names
given to tho intoxicants, and stand Off from
the devastating influence. You have noticed
Tor Instance that some OF the restaurants are
called 1.-The Shades" typical of the fact that
II puts mans reputation in the shade, and
his morals in the shade, and his prosperity in
the shade, and his wife and children In the
shade, and his immortal destiny in the shade
Now, find on some of the liquor signs
In all our cities the words "Oll Crow
nightly suggestive of carcass, and the
hlthy raven that swoops upon It, sold Crown
Men and women without numbers slain Of
rum but unburied, and this evil Is pecSing at
Their glazed eyes, and pecking at their bloated
cheek, and pecking at their destroyed man.
hood and womanhood, thrusting beak and
claw into the mortal remains OF what once
was gloriously alive but now morally dead
"Old Crown But alas, how many take
no warning They make me think of
Caesar on his way to assassination, fearing
nothing; though his statue in the hall crashed
into fragments at his feet and scroll con-
tanning the names of the conspirators was
thrust into his hands, yet walking right on to
meet the dagger that was to take his life.
This infatuation Of strong drink is so mighty
In many man that, though his fortunes are
crashing, and his health is crashing, and his
domestic interests are crashing, and we hand
him a long scroll containing the names of
perils that await him, he goes straight on to
physical, and mental, and moral assassina-
ton. In proportion as any style OF alcohol
ism Is pleasant to your taste, and stimulating
to your nerves, and for time delightful to
all your physical and mental constitution, is
the peril awful Remember Jonathan and
the forbidden honey in the woods of Beth
aven.
Furthermore, the gamester's indulgence
must be put to the list of temptations deli
cious but destructive, l have crossed the
ocean eight times, and always one Of the best
rooms has, from morning till late at night.
been given up to gambling practices. heard
of men who went on board with enough
money for European excursions who landed
without enough money to get their baggage
up to the hotel or railroad station. To many
there Is complete fascination in games OF
hazard or the risking of money on possible
ties, 1t seems as natural for them to bet as
to eat. Indeed, the hunger for food is often
overpowered with the hunger for wagers, as
in the case of Lord Sandwich, a persistent
gambler, who, not being willing to leave the
dice table long enough for the taking of food,
invented preparation of food that he could
take without stopping the game-namely,
slice of beef between two slices of bread,
which was named after Lord Sandwich. 1t
is absurd for those of us who have never felt
the fascination of the wager to speak slight
ingly of the temptation. 1t has slain null
titude of intellectual and moral giants, men
and women stronger than you or |. Down
under its power went glorious Oliver Gold
smith, and Gibbcn, the historian, and Charles
Fox, the statesman, and in olden times ia
nous Senators of the United States, who used
to be as regularly at the gambling house all
night as they were in the halls. of legislation
by day. Oh, the tragedies of the faro table!
! know persons who began with a slight
stake in a ladies' parlor, and ended with
the suicides pistol at Monte Carlo They
played with the square pieces of bone with
black marks on them, not knowing that
Satan was playing for their bones at the same
time, and was sure to sweepall the stakes off
on his side of the table. The last New York
legislature sanctioned the mighty evil last
spring by passing law for its defense at the
race tracks, and many young men in these
cities lost all their wages at Coney Island
this summer, and this fall are borrowing
from the money tills of their employers or
arranging by means of false entries to adjust
their demoralized finances. Every man who
voted for the Ives pool bill has on his hands
and forehead the blood of these souls.
But in this connection some young converts
say to me: SIS it right to play cards. Is there
any harm in a game of whist or euchref'
v ELL know good men who play whist and
euchre and other styles of game without any
wagers. | had friend who played cards
with his wife and children, and then at the
close said: Come, now, let us haveprayers"
l will not judge other mems consciences, but
/ tell you that cards are, in my mind, SO as
ISOLATED with the temporal and eternal dam
nation of splendid young men, that l should
no sooner say to my family: "Come, let us
have game of cards, than | would 60 into
a menagerie and say: "Come let US have
game of rattcsnakes,h or into cemetery,
and sitting down by marble slab, say to
the gravediggers: Come, let US have game
of skulls" Conscientious young ladies are
silently saying to me while speak: "Do you
Perhaps not, but how will you feel if in the
great day of eternity, when we are asked to
give an account of our influence some man
shall say to you: II was introduced to games
of chance in the year 1887, in Brooklyn, at
your house, and went on from that sport to
something more exciting, and went on down
until lost my business, and lost my morals,
and lost my soul, and these chains that you
see on my wrists and feet are the chains of
gamester's doom, and l am on my way to a
gamblers hell" Honey at the start eternal
catastrophe at the last.
stock gambling comes into the same cara-
logue. 1t must be very exhlarating to go
into Wall street, New York, or State street.
Boston, or Third street, Philadelphia, and
depositing a small sum of money, run the risk
of taking out fortune. Many men are do
k,,,r 70 ,,-, h. .%
market, and you are an lgnoramus If you do
not know that it is just as legitimate to
deal in stocks as to deal in coffee, or sugar,
or flour. But nearly all the outsiders who
go there on a little financial excursion lose
all. The old spiders eat up the unsuspecting
flies I had friend who put his hand on
his hip pocket and said to me in substance:
81 have there the value of hundred and
fifty thousand dollars His home is to-day
penniless. What was the mattera Wall
street. OF the vast ma jority who are victim
Neu you near not one word. Une great STOCK
firm goes down, and whole columns of news
papers discuss their fraud or their dis
aster, and we are presented with their
features and their biography. But where
one such famous firm sinks five hundred I'M
known men sink with them. The great
steamer goes down and all the little boats
are swallowed in the same engulfment Gam
bling is gambling, whether in stocks, or
breadstuffs, or dice or race-track betting.
Exhilaration at the start, and raving brain
and a shattered nervous system and sac
rificed property and destroyed soul at the
last Young man, buy no lottery tickets,
purchase no prize packages, bet on no base
ball games or yacht racing, have no faith in
luck, answer no mysterious circulars pro-
posing great income for small investment;
shoe away the buzzards that hover around
our hotels trying to entrap strangers. Go
out and make an honest living. Have God
on your side and be a candidate for heaven.
Remember all the paths of sin are banked
with flowers at the start and there are
plenty of helpful hands to fetch the gay
charger to your door and hold the stirrup
while you mount But further on the horse
plunges to the bit in slough inextricabe.
The best honey is not like that which Jona-
than took on the end of the rod and brought
to his lip, but that which God puts on the
banqueting table of Mercy, at which we are
all invited to sit. l was reading of boy
among the mountains of Switzerland ascend
ing a dangerous place with his father and the
guides. The boy stopped on the edge of the
cliff and said: There is flower I mean to
get" "Come away from here" said the
father "you will fall off f" mo" said he, ~
must get that beautiful fower.n and the
guides rushed toward him to pull him back,